“How many million more souls are to pass into eternity without having heard the name of Jesus?" That question, ever-present in the letters of Lottie Moon, seared her heart as she planted her life as a missionary to China a century ago. During the past five generations, Southern Baptists have been motivated by Lottie Moon to plant their lives in missions by going or supporting others who are carrying the gospel light into the darkness.
Today, they support 5,544 missionaries on the field. The goal for the annual missions offering named for Lottie Moon is a substantial $175 million. What would Lottie think? Would she, citing the more than 1.5 billion who are missing out on the opportunity to hear the Gospel, challenge us once again: “How many million more souls are to pass into eternity without having heard the name of Jesus?”
The Lottie Moon Story
Lottie Moon was born in Virginia on December 12, 1840, Charlotte Digges Moon and grew into a cultured and educated woman. During a sermon in 1873 at her church in Cartersville, Georgia, she heard her call to China to share the gospel. On July 7, 1873, the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention appointed her a missionary to China and in autumn of that year, she set sail for Tengchow. Lottie spent most of her missionary years in Tengchow and P'ingtu where she taught at mission schools and ministered to women. She eventually adopted Chinese dress and learned the Chinese language. Having immersed herself in Chinese culture, Lottie earned respect among many Chinese people and her mission work won many to Christ.
Lottie truly had a heart for the Chinese people and often made personal sacrifices to meet their needs. When famine struck the land, Lottie gave her food to the people, suffering malnutrition as a result. By the time those who were responsible for her welfare realized how serious her condition was, it was too late for medical help. A missionary nurse was bringing her home when Lottie died on board a ship in the harbor at Kobe, Japan, on December 24, 1912. She was 72 years old.
While in China, Lottie wrote letters to the Foreign Mission Board and Baptist women to plead for more missionaries and monetary support to continue and expand missions work among the Chinese people. From her persistent efforts grew the Christmas Offering, first collected by the Women's Missionary Union and given to the Foreign Missions Board to fund missions in China. In 1919, the Christmas Offering in China was renamed the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for China at the suggestion of Annie Armstrong. In 1926, the offering was renamed the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign Missions.
